We haven’t seen Mischa Barton in a long, long time, and the last time we did she wasn’t looking too good. But here she is making up for lost time and making up for all of those years where she looked like an unhealthy hippie hobo with an impressive display of her (now) stunning looks, and her sexy little braless cleavage, and some bodacious booty action in a revealing red outfit at an Esquire event yesterday afternoon… wow. Just… wow. I never thought this girl could get back to being uber hot, but she did. Hot damn did she ever. And she gets extra props for the braless cleavage show. More please! Alright, enjoy!

Mischa Barton filed suit in LA Superior Court this week against her own mother. Mischa’s suit alleges that her mother, working as her manager since Mischa was a child, siphoned money from Mischa’s earnings and conspired to steal and defraud her for years. The suit describes how Nuala Barton regularly stole from Mischa, opened side businesses under Mischa’s name, put her name on the deed to Mischa’s mansion without informing her about it, and even kicked Mischa out of her own home. Nuala put Mischa on an “allowance” of her own money, leaving Mischa unable to pay her bills. What’s more is that Nuala would sign Mischa up for endorsement deals without her permission, including for a weight loss drug called Proactal. Mischa didn’t learn that she was supposedly representing Proactal until they threatened her with breach of contract. She’s since fired her mother and hired another manager.

The lawsuit is long and you can read the full PDF here on E! Online. Some excerpts from the suit are below and there are summaries on E! and People:

This action arises from the tragic tale of a greedy stage mother posing as a talent manager who, instead of acting in the best interest of her daughter/client, schemed to defraud her unsuspecting victim. In the process, Defendant Nuala Barton… forged documents and has even kicked Barton out of her own home – the home purchased with Barton’s money but that Nuala has turned into her own personal ATM. Barton now seeks recovery of what her own mother stole from her and to be able to proceed with her career free of the meddling that Nuala continues to engage in and the damages she continues to cause.

As Barton’s manager, Nuala committed a series of egregious acts to intentionally exploit and harm her own daughter, including (1) inducing Barton to purchase a $7.8 million Beverly Hills home, granting herself a one-half undivided interest in the property, and encumbering the property with two deeds of trust without providing adequate documentation to Barton or an explanation of her rights; (2) withholding Barton’s compensation for her acting, modeling and endorsement work and refusing to provide transparency with respect to the accounting for such compensation; (3) lying to Barton by representing that Barton’s compensation for a particular film was less than what was actually negotiated and paid by the production company so that she could pocket the difference; (4) exploiting Barton’s name, image and likeness to create side businesses – including a Mischa Barton handbag line and Mischa Barton fashion boutique – without compensating Barton for said exploitation or sharing in the profits; and (5) damaging Barton’s reputation in the industry and exposing Barton to legal liability by entering Barton into contracts for endorsement of certain productions without first informing Barton of her obligations under said contracts.

Neither Nuala nor Barton’s father, Paul, has had a job independent of Barton in over a decade. Instead, they sit back expecting their daughter’s hard work and dedication to her craft to support their lifestyle. Both comfortably reside in the $7.8 million Beverly Hills home that was purchased with Barton’s funds while Barton is not welcome at the property…

These revelations of exploitation and fraud, coupled with ongoing instances of bullying and verbal abuse, eventually led to the breakdown of Barton and Nuala’s personal and professional relationship.

Mischa’s lawyer is an excellent writer, right' I love the turns of phrase in that lawsuit, it’s like a screenplay. I guess we now know what’s been going on with Mischa over the years, and her 2009 breakdown (which she blamed on medication for wisdom tooth surgery) makes a lot more sense. She’s seemed somewhat out of it in the past, maybe with substance abuse issues, and definitely with delusions about her career. Mischa must have been dealing so much if her mother was emotionally and financially abusing her like that. If this is all true, it’s despicable. Her parents have been exploiting her since she was eight. I hope that Mischa is able to get her mansion and some of her earnings back.

These photos are of Mischa Barton fronting an ad campaign for an e-cigarette called Vapestick. She likely needs the money. You may have heard that Mischa’s Beverly Hills home is in foreclosure after she missed more than five months of mortgage payments totaling over $100,000. She’s been trying to sell the home since 2010 and has also attempted to rent it out for $35,000 a month with no takers. So she may have decided to let the home go into foreclosure rather than continue to pay when she was underwater on the mortgage. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that Mischa has money issues. In 2010 she was sued by her landlord in NY for nonpayment of rent.

Mischa’s career hasn’t really worked out as planned. While her other O.C. costars have found steady TV gigs and parts in film, she’s still struggling. Her IMDB is full but it looks like she’s mostly doing B movies. That could be because of her highly publicized substance abuse problems including a DUI in 2007 and a psychiatric ward stay in 2009, which she blamed at first on the medication for having her wisdom teeth removed, but later admitted was a full breakdown. Mischa might not see her career problems as the result of her personal issues, as she just said that she regretted taking the role that made her famous, Marissa Cooper on The O.C. Here’s what she told UK’s Metro about it:

Mischa Barton gave up caring what people thought of her a long time ago after admitting if she knew what she does now she would have never set out for teen stardom in The O.C.

The 28-year-old issued a warning to other young Hollywood stars to keep their love lives under cover during an exclusive chat with Metro.

'Probably not,' the British-American star mulled on whether she'd take up the role again after her life derailed following fame in The O.C.

'It's something I came so close to not doing. I had a really great thing with film. People say be grateful for what you have but it certainly not the kind of thing I was expecting it to be'I've kind of seen it all.'

The aftermath saw her arrested for drink-driving and claims she was sectioned in 2009 following a trip to the dentist.

Asked if she cared about her reputation, Barton exclaimed: 'Clearly not!'

'That would really do your head in if you were thinking like that. I just like to be seen for the hard-working actress that I am and not for a bunch of extraneous press. In general people are super quick to harbour on the gossipy stuff and less on how much work goes into it.'

She admitted: 'It's tough. It's really tough when you are young in this business. People blow a lot of hot air at you. That's the main thing. Keep your head on your shoulders ' even when you think your head is on your shoulders, sometimes it isn't!'

'It's just one of those things when you are growing under a microscope and changing and that evolution is human. That humanity aspect means flaws ' which people don't want to see. Keep your private life private to the greatest extent that you can,' she warned. 'People have this insatiable appetite for it ' so how far can you go with that''

Barton told how it has been hard not to lose her cool over the jibes over her chaotic world.

'There's tough balance in being a nice person about it and becoming too closed off and not nice,' she said.'

The star also insisted she had earned her stripes after spelling out the road to fame is a trudge.

'People think they are overnight successes even when tonnes of blood, sweat and tears and years of ground work goes into it,' she explained. 'Which I find strange about society in general. They think it's an instant thing where you work really hard for these things.'

[From Metro.co.uk via US Weekly]

First of all, she’s only 28 now' I thought she was in her 30s already. Mischa sounds like Lindsay Lohan to me, if Lindsay were about 50% more sober and articulate. There’s a lot of defensiveness here. This isn’t the first time that Mischa has said she regrets doing television, in 2009 she said that she needed to get away from network TV, but that was right after her show, The Beautiful Life on The CW, was canceled. (It was an Ashton Kutcher production and it was a mess.) So she has regrets, but is she saying that her breakout role is to blame for the way things are turning out for her instead of taking responsibility for her choices' It sounds like that to me. I could be wrong, she could be saying that things started to derail for her after that point and she wonders what would have happened if she didn’t take that role.

These Vapestick ads are decent, I like her styling, it’s very “late fall boho.”

Photos credit: Vapestick and FameFlynet. Paparazzi photos are from 6-20-14.

I can barely remember the last time I saw Mischa Barton. To be honest, I kind of forget all about her, but she definitely got my attention again with these pictures from the 8th Annual BritWeek Launch Party. So let this be a lesson to all you ladies out there: if you want to get […]

Bringing her suave style to Rome, Mischa Barton made an appearance at a photo call for her new film "Hope Lost" at Casa del Cinema on Saturday (March 15).

Seductive with maroon lipstick, the 29-year-old sported a black and white designer dress, holding a white clutch and sporting a pair of black heels.

Directed by David Petrucci, "Hope Lost" is a hard-hitting thriller addressing prostitution and sex trafficking, centering on a 20-year-old girl leading a somewhat boring life in a small Romanian town, and dreaming for something more.

In a drastic turn of events, the girl is swept off her feet by a handsome stranger at a night club, and after she is whisked away to Italy, she finds that she has been sold into sex slavery.

These are some photos of Mischa Barton from October 9th ' she attended the LA premiere of I Will Follow You Into The Dark. Mischa has been showing up on more red carpets lately from what I've noticed ' most of the time, the events are pretty budget and Mischa is one of the biggest 'names' there, so that should tell you something. But I have noticed that she's been making an effort to be seen, and that she's been making an effort to look more pulled together. Well, that effort has scored her a People Magazine cover. I know, it's a weird choice, right' But I have to admit, I kind of want to read this cover story. I feel like People Mag is making more an effort to feature covers with people of my generation rather than my mom's generation. It's an interesting change:

Ten years ago, the hit TV series The O.C. made 17-year-old Mischa Barton an instant “it” girl. Within a few years, however, she was the talk of Hollywood for a different reason as her partying grew out of control.

“We thought, ‘Work hard, play hard,’ ” she says of those years. In 2007, she was arrested for DUI. Then in 2009, shortly after her parents attempted an intervention, she blacked out under the influence of a sedative and landed in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center psychiatric ward under an involuntary 5150 hold after she threatened to kill herself.

“It was a full-on breakdown,” she tells PEOPLE, speaking about the events in detail for the first time in this week’s cover story. “I was under enormous pressure.”

The terrifying episode forced the actress to slow down and finally focus on getting healthy. But even that led to criticism when body bullies attacked her for gaining weight. When she first shot to stardom, “It was always, ‘She’s too skinny, she must be sick,’” says Barton, now 27. “Then it was, ‘She’s too big.’ I was never the right weight.”

Today, she’s focusing on the positive. In addition to her new supernatural thriller I Will Follow You Into The Dark, she filmed a TV pilot with Frankie Jonas, The Gutsy Frog, in which she plays a crush-worthy schoolteacher. She also has a London boutique, which carries her new makeup collection, a handbag line and some her favorite clothing styles. “I’ve learned a lot,” she says, and she’s proud of her choice to finally speak out about her struggles: “I’m stronger now.”

[From People]

I do like how People Mag kind of glosses over the exact dates and the nit-gritty of how Mischa stopped 'playing hard'. Did she go to rehab' Is she following a 12-step program' Has she been sober since 2009' Those are my questions. Still, if Mischa is doing better these days, good for her. It does sound like she's got her life in order. Check out her IMDB if you want to see all of the projects she's got going on these days ' I doubt most of those movie will be made, but it's good that she's at least getting hired for something, I guess.

The Bling Ring came out last week and two people who aren’t the biggest fans of Sofia Coppola’s latest work areThe O.C. co-stars Rachel Bilson and Mischa Barton. Mostly because Bilson had her house robbed while Barton had her 2007 drunk driving arrest mentioned in the film. Haters.

Says Bilson,”I thought it was weird to glorify something that was so upsetting for a lot of people. It’s important to detach from material things, but the special, personal things I lost are hard to forget.” It’s probably hard to disassociate oneself from something you were directly involved in so I’d take her criticisms with a grain of salt.

Meanwhile, Barton just rails on the film without ever having seen it merely because they highlighted how much of a screw-up she was back then.

The whole idea of this movie, granted, I haven't seen it, creeps me out #theblingring . #undeserved

Here is Mischa Barton makeup-free as she grabbing a juice drink at Sunset Plaza in Los Angeles.

She showed off her legs in shredded short shorts, which she paired with a white T-shirt, black sweater and choker necklace. Barton, who shot to fame playing Marissa Cooper on “The O.C., looked glum as she headed back to her car.

I don’t like to be mean, but if Mischa Barton wants to get back in my good books, she’s going to have to do a whole lot of deep knee bends. Now I don’t know what happened to her, but if this is her way of auditioning for The Biggest Loser Celebrity Edition, I have